The Association of Corporate Travel Executives and the Professional Convention Management Association by next week are expected to announce whether they will co-locate their annual conferences Jan. 10-13 in Dallas as the first major deliverable of a strategic alliance announced last week to partner on research, education, networking opportunities, conference co-locations and staffing "economies of scale."
To do so, ACTE would need to advance its next North American conference, typically held in April or May, to January. "Within a very short period of time--six months--we would be able to demonstrate exactly what we're talking about with respect to co-location," said PCMA president and CEO Deborah Sexton. "But it's also important to put together a quality program and make sure the destination is prepared for it and that our memberships would find the timing and content appropriate."
"Both organizations felt it was a logical next step," Sexton said of the "pioneering" strategic alliance. "We would not under any circumstances consider this alliance if we didn't believe it would provide benefits to our memberships."
The two groups began partnering more than two years ago, primarily sharing insight on education, according to ACTE chairman Richard Crum, who also is president of AirPlus International. Added PCMA chairman John Folks, "While our partnership has evolved and grown very organically, it was a deliberate and strategic move."
Sexton said many of the alliance benefits would emerge over the next 12 to 18 months. "I think you'll see a very successful alliance and, frankly, think that other organizations in this industry will start to think about alliances either with us, or others that make good sense and benefit their members."
Given the missions of the two organizations, Sexton said, "Obviously, we can drive convergence of travel and strategic meetings management between our members. ... I'm extremely optimistic that our existing sponsors and others will look toward this alliance as a very positive move and something that the industry does indeed need."
Sexton noted that "Many of our members are now involved with business travel, just as many of the ACTE members are now involved in the meetings division. There is a convergence here."
That convergence was echoed by Caro Cook, ACTE board member and International Monetary Fund transportation section chief, who said that "many purchasers of travel have been given responsibilities for strategic meetings management and vice versa for the meeting directors. It's not just happening in the U.S., but globally. Therefore, global peer-to-peer education has become a real necessity."
Enthusiasm For Synergies
In a blog post, PCMA's Folks, who also is president and principal of meeting and event agency Minding Your Business Inc., said, "Travel purchasers now have meetings as part of their portfolio and meetings directors are managing travel--Bang!--synergy. Many professionals in our industry are moving from corporate to association jobs or vice versa--Bang!--synergy."
Highlighting the similarities of the two groups, officials noted the "superior education, peer-to-peer learning" and executive-level member bases with buyers and suppliers on an equal level.
PCMA is a 54-year-old association for senior-level buyers and suppliers involved in meetings, conventions, exhibits and seminars. Evenly split between buyers, or "professionals," and suppliers, PCMA has 6,100 members, but only 12 percent outside the United States. Of the professionals, about 40 percent are from associations with 10,000 or more members, while 23 percent are from corporations or are independent planners. About half plan meetings outside the United States. Many of its members are in the medical and education fields and located in the United States. PCMA also has 16 chapters in the United States and Canada. About half of ACTE's 2,500 members are located outside the United States in 82 countries, and it too reports an even split between buyers and suppliers.
PCMA and ACTE officials said a decision on the co-location would have to be made by Thursday in order to allow enough time to execute the meeting in just six months. PCMA's 54th Annual Meeting for about 3,000 professionals has been scheduled for several years. In 2011, PCMA's annual event is to be held in Las Vegas followed by San Diego in 2012. ACTE has typically held spring annual meetings in North America between February and May. Recently, those meetings have attracted as many as 1,200 delegates, although attendance this past April in Washington was noticeably down due to the economy.
PCMA's other meetings include an annual Leadership Conference in June and an Executive Edge event in partnership with a top business school. ACTE this year scheduled 55 educational events and last year reported attendance of more than 7,000 delegates to its various events.
Immediately, executives said, members of each association would benefit from member pricing at each other's events. Officials also plan to identify joint research projects, work together to share keynote speakers, identify trends or perhaps schedule joint educational sessions.
ACTE executive director Susan Gurley noted that the alliance would help members broaden their network. "You can't just talk to people in your small group," she said.
"From a structural standpoint, both associations will retain their own identity and branding; each will have separate leadership, officers, boards, etc.," said PCMA's Folks. "There will be no commingling of funds. That is a very different model from a merger, which this is not. Both associations are free to work with other compatible groups in their fields."
Sexton said the "larger footprint" of the two partners is beneficial, but "not the reason we did this. Collaborative research and shared innovation will be key and something that members and sponsors have been asking for, for a long, long time."
'Not' Related To NBTA Talks
Crum said the alliance is "not in response to anything else that has happened, whether it's the economy or discussions that have been in the media about a potential tie-up between us and NBTA, which our board rejected."
Despite that decision by the ACTE board earlier this month, National Business Travel Association president Kevin Maguire on Tuesday stated in an email to Continental Airlines, obtained by Management.travel, that "NBTA stands ready to proceed with discussions and we've encouraged our counterparts at ACTE to reconsider the latest vote on the matter." Continental had written to the boards of both associations asking them to reconsider a merger. BCD Travel had previously done the same, and Delta Air Lines has also sent a similar letter, according to Maguire.
A merger, Maguire wrote, "could lower the industry's investment in" the two associations to deliver "cost savings to the business travel community" of "approximately $3 million in the first year, and continue annually."
"Negotiating groups from the two organizations discussed what a merged organization would look like" while retaining the NBTA name and corporate structure, according to Maguire. The ill-fated deal would have added "five at-large seats to the board of directors," with the first slate appointed by ACTE from outside the United States; created an International Leadership Council to be elected from the global regions outside the United States; continued the ACTE brand for at least two years including "education powered by ACTE" labels for conferences; and designated up to $250,000 to cover any outstanding ACTE liabilities uncovered in the discovery process, according to the Maguire email.
In response, an ACTE spokesman said the board previously decided this issue.